practising cae use of english part 3

Practising Advanced Use of English Part 3

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Contents

A. TEACHER’S NOTES ...........................................................................................................2

A1. ...............................................................................................................2 Lesson Plan

A2. ................................................................................................5 Classroom Handout 1

A3. ................................................................................................6 Classroom Handout 2

B. GUIDANCE FOR FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES ......................................................................7

B1. ........................................................................................................7 Teacher’s notes

B2. ...............................................................................................9 Classroom Handout 3




A. TEACHER’S NOTES

Description

Time required: 50- 60 minutes

Materials required:

Classroom Handout 1- sentences

Classroom Handout 2 –text (in class or homework)

Classroom Handout 3 – revision text

Aims: To practise using negative prefixes in preparation for CAE Use of English Part 3 word formation task, with particular attention to:

encouraging learners to pay attention to the meaning of the sentence

helping learners to recognise when a prefix is negative, and when it isn’t.

A1. Lesson Plan

1. Begin by checking that learners are familiar with common negative prefixes. Write the following words on the board:

literate

visible

exciting

practical

similar

relevant

pronounced

Elicit the negative forms of each word. Answers: illiterate, invisible, unexciting, impractical, dissimilar, irrelevant, mispronounced

Write the negative forms of the words on the board. As you do so, check:

spelling by making a few deliberate mistakes(e.g.* iliterate, *disimilar, *irelevant) for learners to correct.

pronunciation, especially word stress and weak sounds

meaning by eliciting examples or definitions from learners as appropriate.

Elicit what all these words have in common. Answer: they all have negative prefixes, i.e. prefixes which give the word an opposite meaning. The only exception is ‘mis-’, which means ‘wrongly’, i.e. wrongly pronounced, rather than ‘not pronounced’.




Explain that in this lesson they will practise for Part 3 of the CAE Use of English paper, the word formation task by:

focussing on recognising whether a word has a prefix or not

practising thinking carefully about the meaning of sentences before changing the word.

Timing: 10 minutes maximum

2. Now move on to the first of these aims, making learners aware that a word that begins with un-,il-, ir-, etc is not necessarily a word with a negative prefix. Read out the following words, asking learners to call out if they have a prefix or not. irresponsible irrigate irritate impersonal indefinite

illegal unintentional illuminate improve disguise

mistreat misprint disrespectful infrequent

Write the words on the board in two columns, using different colours for each group of words.

Answers: words with negative prefixes: irresponsible, impersonal, indefinite, illegal, unintentional, mistreat, misprint, disrespectful, infrequent. Words without negative prefixes: irrigate, irritate, illuminate, improve, disguise.

Alternatively, learners can work in pairs, writing the words in two columns as above. Monitor and feed back.

Timing: 5 minutes

3. Give out A2 Classroom Handout 1.

Ask learners to look at the words on the right of the text. Ask: Do any of these words have prefixes already? (No) Do any of them look like they could have a prefix? (inhabited, recognisable,

repair are possible answers). What do the prefixes in- and re- mean? (in = negative or opposite; re = again)

If necessary, check these words (inhabited = lived in; recognisable = can be recognised/ known from previous experience; repair = fix, mend)

In pairs, learners go through all the words on the right and check that they both have the same understanding of them. Monitor and feed back as necessary. You may want to use some visuals (e.g. inhabited/uninhabited) Point out that the meaning of the base word is as important as the meaning of the sentences.

When they’ve done this, the pairs should then read each sentence and decide if the missing word needs a positive or a negative meaning. They must use the context to help them decide.

Timing: 5 – 8 minutes




4. Look at the first sentence with the whole class. Elicit if they need a positive or negative word in the space (positive).

Elicit the different ways they could change ‘valuable’. You may get both ‘invaluable’ and ‘valueless’. Elicit the difference in meaning (invaluable = without a price, not possible to put a price on something; valueless = without any value, worth nothing). Note that ‘invaluable’ is mostly used for non-material things such as help, advice and information.

Participants go through the rest of the sentences in pairs, choosing the correct word in each case. Monitor and feed back, checking learners’ understanding of the meaning.

Answers: 1 invaluable; 2 infamous; 3 inflammable; 4 uninhabited; 5 illegible; 6 unrecognisable; 7 disrepair

Timing: 10-15 minutes

5. Give out A3 Classroom Handout 2.

Point out that this resembles a CAE Use of English Part 3 task, as it has a continuous text. However, it is different as it only tests prefixes. There is always at least one prefix tested in the exam. In this task, a prefix is needed for every answer.

Elicit what students should do first (read the whole text once). Remind them that this is important to give them an idea of the general meaning of the text. Allow a couple of minutes for this.

Review the steps students used for Classroom Handout 1. (1: check they understand the meaning of all the words on the right. 2: decide on the meaning required in each gap). Do the first gap with the class to practise this, then ask students to work individually to complete all the gaps.

When they have finished, they should check with a partner.

Feed back answers, discussing why any mistakes occurred and helping students to identify the clues in the text which help them choose the correct answer.

Answers: 1 unforeseen; 2 uninhabited; 3 infamous; 4 unsuccessful; 5 impassable; 6 illegible; 7 invaluable; 8 irresponsible; 9 dissatisfied; 10 mistreated; 11 inflammable; 12 undaunted

If time doesn’t allow to complete Classroom Handout 2 in class, it can be set for homework.

Timing: 15-20 minutes




A2. Classroom Handout 1

Complete the sentences by using the word in capitals on the right. You must change the word in capitals to fit the meaning of the sentence.

1. John’s help in writing my CV was absolutely ….. VALUABLE

2. The ….. criminal was finally arrested after years on the run. FAMOUS

3. Be careful with this liquid because it is highly ….. . FLAMMABLE

4. The last residents left the island in 1990 and it is now

completely ….. . INHABITED

5. I can hardly read this letter because the handwriting is

almost ….. . LEGIBLE

6. When Joe returned to his home town after twenty years

away, he found it ….. . RECOGNISABLE

7. All the houses in the deserted village are in a state of ….. . REPAIR




A3. Classroom Handout 2

Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line.

Joe and his fellow mountaineers knew that if they encountered

any (1) ….. hazards it was unlikely that anyone could assist FORESEEN

them. The mountain was on an (2) ….. island and they were INHABITED

the only people there. Help was a long boat journey away.

The mountain had an (3) ….. reputation and many previous FAMOUS

expeditions had been (4) ….. . They had already tried two SUCCESSFUL

routes to the summit and found them (5) ….. . Now they were PASSABLE

trying the third. Joe had a note, in almost (6) …. handwriting, LEGIBLE

from the leader of a previous expedition advising him to try

it. The information in the note had proved (7) …. and they had VALUABLE

made good progress at first.

For the last two days, however, bad weather had confined them

to their tent. It would be (8) …. to climb in such conditions. The RESPONSIBLE

climbers had found their equipment reliable but were (9) …. with SATISFIED

their tent, which leaked badly. They had not (10) …. it in any TREATED

way but it was not fit for purpose. Joe suspected the tent material

was (11) …. because their cooker almost set it on fire. Eventually, FLAMMABLE

the weather improved and the climbers set off once more, (12) … DAUNTED

by the challenges ahead of them.




B. GUIDANCE FOR FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

B1. Teacher’s notes

1. In Step 1 of the lesson, a vocabulary revision activity was used to check spelling and pronunciation. Although word formation exercises are essentially written tasks, they provide a good opportunity to practise the pronunciation of polysyllabic words. This should take four forms:

identifying the stressed syllable

noting the relationship between strong/weak syllables and stress (for example: atom, atomic)

identifying the number of syllables (for example: ‘indefinite’ has three syllables not four)

practising shifting stress (for example: geography, geographical; archaeologist, archaeological). Note that the shift in stress is caused by keeping the stress on the third syllable from the end in these words. This is known as the ‘ante-penultimate rule’.

Pronunciation practice should always be incorporated into a word formation lesson. This adds an extra dimension to a vocabulary lesson.

2. Correct spelling is vital in the CAE Use of English test. Therefore, the prefixes dis-, mis-, il- and ir- need plenty of practice (for example: misspell, dissatisfied). Students should also practise choosing between in- and im- (e.g. insufficient but improbably)

3. In A2 Classroom Handout 1, we used a sentence-based activity. Although the exam task is text-based, using sentences enables us to focus on specific types of affixation in contrast to the wide variety found in the exam task. This specific focus is helpful to students who are preparing for the exam. You can prepare similar tasks by:

making a note of interesting sentences that you come across in your reading

making these into exercises which focus on particular types of affixation.

You will not find an authentic text that has only one kind of affixation. You will have to write such a text yourself. It is easier to collect sentences from your reading.

4. Other affixes you could focus on include

negative or opposite suffixes, e.g. -less (e.g. in the word ‘priceless’)

other types of prefixes, such as en- (endanger), under- (undercook), over- (overdo), re- (rewrite), sub- (subway)

5. In A3 Classroom Handout 2, learners did a modified version of a CAE Use of English Part 3. They only had to add a prefix to the words. In the exam, there are a range of changes that candidates may have to make, and they may need to make more than one change to a word.




You can adjust the level of difficulty by asking for one or more changes to the target word. For example, in A3 Classroom Handout 2, FORESEEN to UNFORESEEN is one change. SEE to UNFORESEEN is three changes.

In B2 Classroom Handout 3, the same text is used but in most cases it is necessary to make two changes to the target word. This can be given as a revision task some time after the lesson, or used instead of A2 Classroom Handout 2 in the lesson, or given as homework

6. Although it can be tiresome if done to excess, it is valuable to select some words for a full analysis of word classes. For example, success, succession (noun), succeed (verb), successful/unsuccessful (adjective), successfully (adverb). You can ask learners to complete tables with these headings.




B2. Classroom Handout 3

Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line.

Joe and his fellow mountaineers knew that if they encountered

any (1) ….. hazards it was unlikely that anyone could assist SEE

them. The mountain was on an (2) ….. island and they were INHABIT

the only people there. Help was a long boat journey away.

The mountain had an (3) ….. reputation and many previous FAME

expeditions had been (4) ….. . They had already tried two SUCCESS

routes to the summit and found them (5) ….. . Now they were PASS

trying the third. Joe had a note, in almost (6) …. handwriting, LEGIBLE

from the leader of a previous expedition advising him to try

it. The information in the note had proved (7) …. and they had VALUE

made good progress at first.

For the last two days, however, bad weather had confined them

to their tent. It would be (8) …. to climb in such conditions. The RESPONSE

climbers had found their equipment reliable but were (9) …. with SATISFY

their tent, which leaked badly. They had not (10) …. It in any TREAT

way but it was not fit for purpose. Joe suspected the tent material

was (11) …. because their cooker almost set it on fire. Eventually, FLAME

the weather improved and the climbers set off once more, (12) … DAUNT

by the challenges ahead of them.

practising cae use of english part 3

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